In plain words
Open the Rules tab, click + Add a rule, name it, pick a condition, choose raise or lower and by how much, pick the room types, and click Add Rule. A window shows the days the rule will change: click Apply price adjustments and the rule is on. While your property is in simulation, the change log shows what the rule would do without sending anything. After you go live, its prices go to Cloudbeds or ThinkReservations. Nothing is sent to Mews yet.
Before you start
If you are new to rules, What a rule is explains them in plain words. You need no revenue management background: a rule is one sentence you write once, when a night looks like this, change its price by that much, and MAYA runs it on every night up to 395 nights ahead.
Rules live on the Rules tab. From the top down you will find:
- the heading Pricing Rules, with the Get suggestions from my data button beside it
- a filter with three choices, All, Enabled and Disabled
- a closed panel called How rules behave, which holds three short animations
- the list of your rules
- the + Add a rule button, which opens the rule builder underneath the list
You need to be a Revenue Manager, General Manager or Hotel Admin on the property to add a rule. A Viewer can open the form, but the save is refused.
If MAYA built for you when you connected, they are already on the list, and you build your own beside them. Read Your starter rules.
The walkthrough
We will build a rule called "Busy nights" for The Harbour Inn, a made-up 20-room property: when a night is more than 80% full, raise every room type by 10%.
- 1
Open the rule builder
Go to the Rules tab and click + Add a rule. The form opens underneath the list of rules.
- 2
Name it
In Rule name, type Busy nights. The name is how you will find the rule in the change log later, so choose words you will recognise in a month.
- 3
Set the condition
Under Conditions, one row is already there. Leave Metric on Sellable occupancy (%), leave Compare on Greater than, and leave Threshold at 80. Read together, the row says: when more than 80% of the rooms you can sell that night are booked.
- 4
Choose the change
Under Rate adjustment, open Direction (required) and choose Increase the rate. Type 10 in Adjust by percent (%). Adjust by fixed amount ($) greys out, because a rule has one amount. Leave Take this change back if cancellations remove the bookings that triggered it ticked.
- 5
Pick the room types
Under Apply to room types, every room type that counts as a room is already selected. Leave them all on. A type tagged "not a room" (The Harbour Inn's Meeting Room, say) stays out unless you click it.
- 6
Add it
Click Add Rule. A window opens with a small calendar of the months ahead, the days the rule will change filled in, and a line such as "12 days will be affected by this rule." Click Apply price adjustments. The rule appears in the list with its switch on On, and the form folds away. (Skip price adjustments also switches it on, but leaves those days' prices as they are. Read Turning a rule on, Apply or Skip.)
That is a complete rule. From the next , usually within a minute and at most about five, any night in the window with above 80% has its price raised by 10% for every room type you picked. When a night drops back to 80% or under, the raise comes off again.
What you see in the list afterwards
The list has six headed columns, Name, Fired, Conditions, Room Types, Price Change and Status, and a last one with no heading for the rule's Edit and Delete buttons.
| Column | What it shows for "Busy nights" |
|---|---|
| Name | Busy nights |
| Fired | A dash until the rule has acted, then a count such as 3×, which opens the rule's fire log |
| Conditions | above 80% |
| Room Types | Standard, Deluxe, Suite |
| Price Change | +10% |
| Status | On |
Fired counts : each run in which the rule acted counts once, however many nights and room types it changed. Runs come about every five minutes, so a new rule that acts on a few more nights in each of them can climb quickly, and a change that later came off still counts. Read The list for the rest of the list.
Watch it in the change log
Open the Change Log tab. Each lists the prices that changed, one line per night for the room types a rule changed the same way. When "Busy nights" raises all three of The Harbour Inn's room types on Friday, November 13, the bold line reads "Nov 13 · 3 room types · Busy nights +10%", and under it:
"Busy nights" raised this night 10%, from $150.00 to $165.00 on 1 of 3 room types. It was 85% full, past the 80% mark you set.
The sentence is worded from one of the room types (which one can vary), and Each room type under it lists every room type's own before and after. A rule that changes only one room type names it in the bold line instead, with no "on 1 of 3".
While your property is in simulation, the same change is tagged Simulation, its bold line starts "Simulation:", and it says what would have happened: "Busy nights" would have raised this night 10%, from $150.00 to $165.00 on 1 of 3 room types. Nothing is sent. On Cloudbeds and ThinkReservations, a small amber dot on the calendar marks each night going live would change, and the day card says what MAYA would send. Read How to tell which mode you are in.
Compare
89%sellable occupancy
8 of 9 sellable rooms (12 rooms, minus 3 out of service).
Your rule firesGreater than 80 holds: 89% is more than 80.
Twelve rooms, three out of service, eight booked: 89% sellable occupancy, so a Greater than 80 rule fires.
An illustration with made-up numbers, not your property.
Example: Busy nights on three nights at The Harbour Inn
The Harbour Inn has 20 rooms across Standard (12), Deluxe (6) and Suite (2). "Busy nights" measures all 20 together, because occupancy is worked out over the room types the rule measures.
- Friday: 17 of 20 rooms booked, 85%. Above 80, so the rule acts. Standard goes from $150 to $165, Deluxe from $200 to $220, Suite from $300 to $330.
- Saturday: 16 of 20 booked, exactly 80%. Not above 80, so nothing happens. Greater than means more than, not equal to.
- Sunday: 9 of 20 booked, 45%. Nothing happens.
If two Friday guests cancel, Friday drops to 15 of 20, 75%, and on the next check the raise comes off. Standard goes back to $150.
Choosing the amount
How much a rule raises or cuts is your choice. There is no right number, and MAYA does not pick one for you. The percent box shows "e.g. 10" until you type, and 10% is $15 on The Harbour Inn's $150 Standard. Three things help you settle on yours:
- Use the starter rules as a reference. The usual five cut by 7% and 15% and raise by 10% and 25%. Rules copied from your own rates use the sizes your rates showed. Read Your starter rules.
- Try it before it counts. In the Rate Simulator, make up a night and see what each room type becomes. Then watch a week of the change log in simulation before you go live.
- Remember what stacks. Percentages compound: $200 raised 10% and then 25% is $275, not $270. A rule can act again after each wait, so two 10% raises on $150 make $181.50. The ceiling stops raises and the floor stops cuts, so check those first. Read Floors and ceilings.
Three more rules to try
- A last-minute cut: lower a night that is close and still quiet. Read Price last-minute nights differently.
- A booking speed raise: raise a night that is booking faster than your did. Read Booking speed first, so the levels make sense.
- Suites that follow your standard rooms: measure Standard, change Suite. Read Let suites follow your standard rooms.
The link can't pick room types for you: it opens with every room type that counts as a room under both Measure and Change. Set Measure to Standard and Change to Suite before you click Add Rule, or the rule raises every room type a second time on top of "Busy nights".
What to read next
The reading path lists every rules page in the order to read them. Next up is The rule builder, field by field, then Turning a rule on, Apply or Skip.